Drilling Techniques

Frequently asked question on the subject of designing, creating, producing printed boards, veroboards or perfboads and on point-to-point construction techniques.
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Ice-9
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Post by Ice-9 »

I any engineering situation all holes are drilled from one side only generally. Rough edges are avoided by using the correct drill bit type for the component being drilled and a drill bit that is correctly sharpened. A blund bit will burn its way through rather than drill. Exceptions to this would be if you needed to countersink the other side of the hole, but it would still be fully drilled before coutersinking the other side . Also if a drill hole is sharp around the edges you can use a deburr tool to clean it up.
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Post by bruin2k3 »

Hi, I'm very new to pedal building. What is the proper way to drill an enclosure? I gather that I should use a center punch first so that the bit doesn't slip. Is there a preferred drill bit to use? Do you drill from the outside or from the inside? What are the typical sizes of holes to drill for different components? Is a battery hand-drill good enough?

Thanks in advance!

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Post by Hides-His-Eyes »

Hand drill is good enough but not ideal. Clamp the enclosure very securely.


I personally punch and then drill 2mm as a pilot, and then go up only around 2-3mm at a time to not put too much strain on my wimpy drill. For footswitches (12mm) I have to get to ten by drilling every half mm and then do the last couple of mm with a tapered reamer.

I use:

7mm for pots
11mm for plastic jack sockets
10mm for insulated dc sockets (large type)
12mm for footswitches

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Post by HHR18 »

Hi there,

I wanna drill two Hammond B boxes with a LED, 3 knobs and 1 SPDT and of course 2 jacks, DC and 3DPDT. It's for a Wampler Plexi Drive. Does anyone have a template for this? I can't find it anywhere on the web!

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Post by CGP »

I have used this design for a similar project there is a photoshop file as well which will allow you to move the drill points around (provided you have photoshop of course) a couple of amendments that aren't on the layout the DC socket actually needs a 12.5mm hole and the spst is a 6.5mm (obviously check these against your own components). Hope this helps
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Post by Supercolio »

Use photoshop, paint.net or a free CAD program eMachineShop. I used the latter for my last build, which turned out to be awesome :)
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Post by gtrgeo »

I tried to search and came up empty handed. A google search gave me varying info since there are so many applications for PCBs. What size drill bits should i be using when etching my own boards? I tried a couple using a #60 bit and while it worked, the holes felt a little large. Where is the best place to buy? I have been using regular HSS bits and they seem to dull quickly and sure break easy. Of course, that's probably because i use them in a hand drill or dremel. I have a large drill press but the chuck will not hold such small bits. Any resources for a low cost small drill press, HF, etc?

Sorry for all the questions, just getting frustrated.

Thanks,
George

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Post by bato001 »

I use a craftsman roto-tool with a plunge attachment to drill boards. I have not had a problem with breaking bits with this tool, then again I am very careful. A #60 bit is .04" which is about 1 mm. It is a little big. I use a .7 mm for resistors and caps and .8 mm for IC and transistor sockets. I bought a set of Velleman bits at a local electronics store near my house. You can definitely find them on line as well, probably at Mouser.

If you are looking at drill bits measured in inches, a .029" is about .7 mm (0.28" works too) and a .031" is about .8 mm (.033" works too). If you need to convert just google "inches to mm" and use the calculator.

Here is a link to Electronix Express (which is where I buy some of my parts) showing the bits you want:

http://www.elexp.com/tol_bit1.htm

And here is a search at Mouser revealing some bits of the size you want:

http://www.mouser.com/Search/Refine.asp ... drill+bits
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gtrgeo
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Post by gtrgeo »

Thanks for the help Bato.

I searched the sears site and it doesn't look like they are selling the craftsman branded moto tools any longer but here are some options found.

Is your plunge attachment like this http://www.sears.com/milescraft-rotary- ... ckType=G64

Or http://www.sears.com/dremel-plunger-rou ... ckType=G67

I have a dremel branded variable speed tool so it looks like either would work.

Thanks also for the clarification of drill sizes. I will need to order some bits in the suggested sizes and see what works best for me. As far as breakage, it had more to do with handling. A cordless drill tends to break tiny bits when it falls over. :oops:

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Post by bato001 »

gtrgeo wrote:Thanks for the help Bato.

I searched the sears site and it doesn't look like they are selling the craftsman branded moto tools any longer but here are some options found.

Is your plunge attachment like this http://www.sears.com/milescraft-rotary- ... ckType=G64

Or http://www.sears.com/dremel-plunger-rou ... ckType=G67

I have a dremel branded variable speed tool so it looks like either would work.

Thanks also for the clarification of drill sizes. I will need to order some bits in the suggested sizes and see what works best for me. As far as breakage, it had more to do with handling. A cordless drill tends to break tiny bits when it falls over. :oops:
Mine is similar to the second link, but I am seriously considering ordering the milescraft thingy from your first link, that looks like it would make it much easier!!!!!!

I tried the old hand drill method as well and it doesn't work so well LOL. Good luck my friend, let me know how it turns out and what tool you ultimately purchase!
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